Loreta Pence

May 16, 1917 - April 24, 2018

Loreta Cleota (Miller) Pence, age 100, of Washington, passed away Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at the Washington County Hospital. Celebration of life services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, April 30, 2018 at the Jones & Eden Funeral Home with Pastor Colton Clay officiating. The family will receive friends from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. Monday morning. Interment will take place at the Elm Grove Cemetery in Washington. A memorial has been established for HACAP. Online condolences may be sent for Loreta’s family through the web at www.jonesfh.com. Loreta was born May 16, 1917 in Hammond, Kansas, the daughter of Ralph P. and Bessie Mae (Davidson) Miller. Her father died when she was 9 years old and she and her mother relocated to Washington. She continued to live in her childhood home until the time of her death. Loreta graduated from Washington High School in 1935. She and her high school sweetheart, Wade Elston Pence, were married on January 5, 1936 in Rock Island, Illinois. Loreta was a faithful member of the First Christian Church where she served as a Sunday School and Bible School teacher, C.W.F. Group Leader and Deaconess. She was a homemaker and was a seasonal employee of McCleery Cummings and Advanced Ross Manufacturing. Loreta especially enjoyed weekends spent with family at their cabin on Lake Odessa, fishing and boating. You could find Wade and Loreta frequently at a dance someplace, kicking up their heels. She is survived by her son, Gary Pence and wife Connie (Nordyke) of Washington, IA; granddaughter, Jennifer Pence Morgan of Washington, IA; and 3 great-grandchildren: Maggie Morgan, Mason Morgan and Dylan Stecklein. She was preceded in death by her husband in 1978; mother in 1986; mother and father-in-law, Gertrude and Ross Pence; and special friends Charlie Randall and Lynn Wertz.